If you have read much of what I have written in the past, then you probably know that I am an avid photographer and have moved more recently into the digital photography camp. I was a yearbook photographer in high school and have continued my love of photography even now. This is a truly amateur hobby for me but one that I want to be much better at than I am currently. Therefore, I am always on the lookout for things that will help me get better at this hobby of mine. A long time ago, I learned how to use SLR cameras but digital cameras are another matter. After reading through many of the “tips and tricks” found in this book, I realize how little I know about digital photography and how much more I can learn .

The book is written by Gregory Georges, developed by maranGraphics and published by Wiley Publishing Inc. The story behind this line of books is quite interesting. Richard Maran and his three younger sisters make up the maranGraphics company. It began in 1974 with Richard’s desire to convey complicated and technical information in a more user-friendly way. It has been a very successful approach, resulting in the publication of over 100 books with translations of these books into many disparate languages. The method of imparting information in their books is called “Visual Grammar” as it combines pictures with text throughout the book in order to demonstrate the primary theme or educational point of each section or chapter. The President of maranGraphics, Richard Maran describes Visual Grammar as an “integration of text and graphics to explain information.” He goes on to explain that their approach is to utilize visuals and text equally to help people learn. Being a clinical psychologist and a student of human learning and development, these books are excellent for those of us who have a strong visual component in our learning style. Think about how we learned as children, picture books were very effective and we did most of our early book learning in that manner. Jumping back into my role as an amateur photographer, I’d have to say that you could easily follow the step-by-step information in a sequential manner until you are comfortable that you have learned the process adequately.

Now let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of the contents of this book. To begin with, let me summarize how the book is laid out. The contents of the book are divided into chapters with such general headings as Get Ready to Take Photos, Take Better Photos, Creative Photo Ideas or Make Photographic Prints among others. There are ten of these chapters in this book. Then, each chapter offers several tips or tricks for you to focus on and try. The pages are bright and eye-catching and the tips are labeled with large, brightly colored numbers for easy reference. Each tip is conveniently rated as to how elementary or advanced it is by using a one to four symbol measure. One was a new way to accomplish a routine job, two was a new or novel task, three was a combination of multiple skills that demanded detailed understanding and four required thorough comprehension and possibly the use of other technology in order to accomplish it. Most of them were rated one symbol, some two symbols and a few three symbols. I did not find any that were assigned four symbols. I guess those tasks are more advanced, would not qualify as “simplified” and therefore were left out of this text. Chapters are numbered and the book has the chapter heading included on the top of each right-sided page of the book. The explanation is given in text and illustrated with photographs or screen captures to represent exactly how you should go about mastering each technique.

Finally, let me describe my experience with one or two of the tips in this book. I recently upgraded my digital camera from the Sony Mavica FD-85 to a Fujifilm FinePix S5000. I have heard of the “RAW” format before in reading digital photography magazines or digital camera articles. I never knew what that meant. Tip #4 in Chapter One suggests that you use the image file format that fits your purposes. This tip discusses the differences between JPEG, TIFF and RAW files. This tip also offers pros and cons for using each format. Following up on this, in the Editing Images With Adobe Photoshop Elements chapter, tips # 61 and 62 reveal what to do with those RAW files and how to convert them using a software conversion tool. I learned that the major plus for shooting in this format was that you could edit the RAW image after the fact, improving the photo quality and overall image appearance without losing any of the image quality. Another tip, #93 explains in plain words how to archive your digital image files to a DVD.

Digital Photography: Top 100 Simplified Tips & Tricks is an excellent book that I would recommend for all but the most accomplished amateur or the true professional photographer. As for the rest of us, there are a lot of good nuggets we can benefit from in the pages of this book. It is published by Wiley Publishers with a suggested retail price of $19.99. I was able to locate it online at Amazon for just $13.99.